Lessons in American History Using Primary Sources
A Series of Webquests
By Laura Thompson
UPS 5: Islamic Civilization
Historical Context – Islamic civilization inherited
much from other ancient civilizations. In the middle ages, Muslims advanced the
scholarship of science and mathematics. For many centuries, Muslim rulers were
more tolerant of religious minorities in their midst than European colonial
powers were of minorities living under their rule.
Driving
Question: What were the most important Islamic achievements? Why were the
Muslims able to make such remarkable contributions, and how did these
contributions impact the world?
Part A |
The following documents will help you understand
Islamic achievements. Examine each document carefully. In the space provided,
answer the question or questions that follow each document. |
Document
1 - Bech,
Black, Krieger, Naylor, Shabaka, World
History: Patterns of Interaction, McDougal-Littell,
1999, (adapted). This document explains why Muslims of the Islamic Empire both
preserved existing knowledge and extended it.
Muslims had practical reasons for supporting the
advancement of science. Rulers wanted qualified physicians treating their
ills. The faithful…relied on mathematicians and astronomers to calculate the
times for prayer and the direction to Mecca…Their attitude reflected a
deep-seated curiosity about the world and a quest for truth that reached back
as far as…Mohammed himself. After the fall of Rome in 476 BC, Europe entered a
period of upheaval and chaos, and in which scholarship suffered…in the early
800s, Caliph al-Ma'mun opened in Baghdad…the House of Wisdom. There, scholars
of different cultures and beliefs worked…translating texts from Greece,
India, Persia, and elsewhere into Arabic. |
What were the
reasons for Muslims' interest in learning at this time in history?
Document
2 - Philip Hitti,
Capital Cities of Arab Islam,
University of Minnesota Press, 1973, (adapted). The Islamic capital of Cordova,
in present-day Spain, was described by a contemporary as the "jewel of the
world." European scholars preferred Cordova's Islamic schools and
universities over other study sources in Europe.
Besides the university library, Arab statistics
assure us the city boasted 37 libraries, numberless book stores, 800 public
schools…and a total population of 300,000. Its people enjoyed a high standard
of living and refinement and walked on paved streets…all this time when
hardly a town in Europe, except Constantinople, counted more than a few
thousand inhabitants. Parisians and Londoners were still trudging on muddy
dark alleys. |
What
conditions in Cordova did this author cite as evidence of the high level of
Islamic civilization and living?
Document
3 - Bech,
Black, Krieger, Naylor, Shabaka, World
History: Patterns of Interaction, McDougal-Littell,
1999, (adapted). Physician al-Razi wrote a medical
reference encyclopedia, The Comprehensive Book. He also wrote Treatise
on Smallpox and Measles. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) wrote the five-volume The
Canon of Medicine. These books were translated into Latin and other
languages and influenced doctors all over Europe. This document describes the
influence of these Islamic texts on European medicine.
When Europeans learned that Muslims had preserved
important medical texts, they wanted to translate the texts into Latin. In
the 11th century, scholars traveled to libraries such as Toledo, Spain, where
they began translating—but only after they learned Arabic. Through this process, European medical schools
gained access to vital reference sources such as al-Razi's Comprehensive
Book and Ibn Sina's The Canon of Medicine. Sina's five-volume
encyclopedia guided doctors of Europe and Southeast Asia for six centuries.
For nearly 500 years, al-Qasim's work, The Method, which contained
original drawings of some 200 medical tools, was the foremost textbook on
surgery in Europe. |
What does
this document tell you about Muslim medical knowledge at this time in history?
How did it
impact Western civilization?
Document
4 - Al-Khwarizmi, a Muslim
mathematician, studied Indian sources. He wrote a textbook in the 9th century
about al-jabr (the Arabic word for what we call algebra today). This book was
later translated into Latin and used throughout Europe. Muslim mathematicians
also adopted Arabic numerals from India and used them in a place-value system.
Here are examples of these two advances.
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135 |
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3x = 15 |
+ |
20 |
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155 |
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What was the
importance of these mathematical advances?
How did these
developments impact Western civilization?
Document
5 - Muslim scholars also made
advances in trigonometry, astronomy, and cartography. To do so, they relied on
scientific observation and their understanding of mathematics and optics. They
used the astrolabe and the armillary
sphere to study the skies and make calculations for their calendars and
maps.
How did each
of these instruments impact Muslim and Western civilization?
Document
6 - http://obviousmag.org/en/archives/2008/08/arabic_calligraphy.html.
Muslim artists used calligraphy to decorate buildings and objects of art as
well as to reflect the glory of Allah. Study this example.
Why would
Muslims use calligraphy in religious art?
What impact
has calligraphy had on world art?
Part B |
What were the most important Islamic achievements?
Why were the Muslims able to make such remarkable contributions, and how did
these contributions impact the world? |